Belgium’s Possessionreturn with a brand-new mini-album, 1585-1646, set for international release on June 6th, with Iron Bonehead Productionshandling the vinyl pressing andInvictus Productionshandling the CD pressing, and today premiere the new track Ceremony.

Through these four tracks, Possession tells the story of a witch who lived in France between 1585 and 1646: on Obscurity, an intro sets the crucial medieval atmosphere; with Visitation the future witch receives the visit of the Devil, who offers her a pact she accepts; on Ceremony comes the Sabbath; with Guilty the Inquisitors hunt the witch, catch her, and torture her to make her confess; and at last, on Ablaze the Inquisitors burn the witch.

Labeled under the very loose term melodic death metal, Spanish band Mistweaver write a versatile power metal with mainstream sensibilities and growling vocals. An experienced band sharing the stage with many prominent acts such as Suffocation, Enslaved, Exodus, Grave and Sodom, Mistweaver is onto their 5th full-length album.

The versatility in style mentioned earlier refers to a range in riffing that oscillates between straight up heavy metal to heavy-doom to acoustic passages that come out of nowhere topped with typical folk melodies ala Wintersun. But these guys are more accessible than the black-touched Wintersun, making heavier use of headbanging chugs and simple melodies. The use of keyboards is similar to the role given to them in In the Nightside Eclipse. Some sections touch on the more opera rock – oriented brand of power metal, the so-called symphonic power metal.

Mistweaver is the sort of band that has stayed on top of their game by doing everything that is expected of them. They have been active and playing with big names, they have put out an average of one album every three years (long enough for the judicious fan not to fall for a fast and cheap album, but not so long so that said fan does not conclude that the band has gone rusty), and their music has every single trait a fan of the general power metal and related genres might wish to find in an album of this kind.

The cast of Gruesome, the Schuldiner-hailing collective featuring members of Exhumed, Possessed, Malevolent Creation and Derketa, today untethers a very special cover of Slayer’s “Black Magic.” The band’s latest reconfiguration of the old-school appears on the deluxe digital edition of the band’s Savage Land full-length.

We chose our cover tunes the same way we tried to write the album,” relays guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey. “We just did what Chuck [Schuldiner] would have done. Death was never a band particularly known for their cover song repertoire, but they did occasionally close their set with a rendition of ‘Black Magic’ and it’s a cover that dates as far back as an old 1984 Death/Mantas rehearsal, so we felt it would be appropriate. We were considering ‘The Exorcist’ by Possessed, since Death started recording a cover of it during Individual Thought Patterns, but since [Gruesome guitarist] Dan [Gonzalez] is in Possessed, it was a bit weird. Again, we tried to approach the song as Death doing a Slayer cover, so… hopefully we came close to the mark.

Gruesome pays homage to the mainstream’s and non-death metal listeners’ most celebrated American acts, Death. As such, their debut full-length, Savage Land, released last month Relapse Records, is an addictively punishing exhibition of late-’80s/early-’90s Florida-styled death metal that keeps the true sound and spirit of Chuck Schuldiner and Death alive and well.

Gruesome was borne out of guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey (Exhumed) and drummer Gus Rios’ (Malevolent Creation) mutual involvement with the Death To All tours. After discarding the idea of putting together another incarnation of DTA to focus exclusively on Death’s first two albums, Harvey half-jokingly suggested writing their own songs in that vein. The idea gained traction, and the band had five songs written. Rios later recruited Possessed guitarist Daniel Gonzalez and Derketa bassist Robin Mazen to record the material in Florida. Savage Land was tracked by Rios and Gonzalez at Riversound Studios in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, mixed by Jarrett Pritchard at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida, and features a guest guitar solo on “Closed Casket” by James Murphy as well as cover art by legendary illustrator Ed Repka (Death, Megadeth, Massacre, Athiest et el).

Savage Land is out now via Relapse Records on CD, LP and all digital outlets. Physical orders are available now at THIS LOCATION, and digital orders HERE.

“This couldn’t come more highly recommended. Buy this and take a trip back to the ’80s when death metal wasn’t all about blast beats and gutturals.” – Stereokiller

“The enthusiasm alone on Savage Land is awe-inspiring… this is a fun romp through the rehearsal space of a bunch of longhairs who love a band so much it hurts. 8/10” – Exclaim

“…just so goddamned fun.” — MetalSucks

“Metal needs more albums like Savage Land… The legacy and sound of Death lives on ever so faithfully through bands like Gruesome, and wherever he is, Chuck Schuldiner is undoubtedly windmilling ferociously and smirking ear to ear at the deathly sounds of Savage Land. 4/5” – HeavyBlogIsHeavy

In order to help death metallers make a smooth transition into string quartets, the first edition of this series presented the reader with two quartets that are superficially and at least partially, in terms of a simplistic judgement of mood, akin to underground death metal. Today, we will venture into a territory that is equally relevant to metal, composition-wise, not because metal artists compose in this way, but as I suggested last time, because there are many ideas relating to refinement that could be extrapolated and applied in a death metal context. In order to make this transition smoothly, one of the quartets introduced in this second edition is still superficially dark in atmosphere.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 19, “Dissonance”

Nicknamed after the prominent dissonances right at beginning of the first movement, it was the last of six quartets that Mozart dedicated to Haydn, who defined the classical way to write for string quartets. Even Beethoven recalls a before-and-after marked by the study of Haydn’s quartets. Mozart describes these quartets as “the culmination of a long and laborious effort” and many think it is the display of composer’s finest faculties.

As with any string quartet, the listener is encouraged to pay attention to each moment, absorb it, but not dwell on it. References to the exercise in dissonance application to an otherwise strict style can be found in other places in the quartet. A challenge may be to spot where this happens. We can start trying to wait for the moment in the second movement when the cello receives a leading line and the rest of the instruments play dissonant harmonies around it.

An important influence to many from Benjamin Britten to King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, Bartók’s string quartets’ particular sound owed a great deal to the composer’s extensive field research on European folk music. Paul Wilson in his book, The Music of Béla Bartók, wrote that it was this research that allowed the composer to rid himself of the “tyrannical rule of the major and minor keys, leading eventually to a new conception of the chromatic scale, every tone of which came to be considered of equal value and could be used freely and independently.”. The astute and attentive observer may note that this, Bartók’s fourth string quartet, uses no prominent themes (complete musical expressions in themselves), but advances through developing motifs (musical cryptograms) only.

Idis Örlög have revealed the cover for their forthcoming album to be released sometime within the coming months. The title is Frøya og Svipdag and Songs from Njartharlåg. The songs on the album weave and wax and wane on sagas, stories, histories, landscapes, characters and feelings. The title refers to the saga of Svipdag which comes from the elder Edda. You can read it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svipdagsmál.

Njartharlåg is the old name for the island of Tysnes, where Tyr and Njarthar (Nerthus or some say also Freya) were worshiped. An altar was found there, as well as some standing stones.

Songs on the album are about the above and more, going to these places and to locations from nature and from dreams.

Colombian true living Death Metal legends MASACRE have inked a deal with Xtreem Music for the European version of their latest album “Brutal Aggre666ion”, the 5th in their long career for this band formed back in 1988 that has built a truly incorruptible cult status as one of the most mythic south american bands ever!!

First released only for the colombian territory through the band’s own label Mórbida Prod. in October 2014, “Brutal Aggre666ion” is another solid step in the band’s discography, showing a truly brutal form of Death Metal in their traditional style, empowered, once again, by the production skills of HATE ETERNAL/ ex-MORBID ANGEL’s Erik Rutan at his own Mana Studios in Tampa, Florida.

Hailing from Italy, Final Fright play ripping speed metal right out of the mid 1980s. Established in 2010, the band played covers, released the demo Abusive Grindhouse in 2012 and now in 2015 present us with their first full-length album, Artificial Perfection.

Unabashedly retro in their choice of style, Final Fright feels completely at home and does not try to impose modern conventions on the language of this particular brand of speed metal. Neither is the band copy pasting from particular acts. Artificial Perfection sounds like a someone learning and dominating a foreign language. When this happens, the music does not come out sounding like a cardboard front disguising something else, but the artists are able to express themselves as native speakers in the lingo of the genre.

But speaking a language does not necessarily imply you have something worth saying. So it is that the honest and proficient handling of the musical language by Final Fright is satisfactory and even enjoyable but unexceptional all the same. People looking for bouncy, authentic speed metal in a different mouth and voice but offering nothing different will find this is a fantastic release for them.

June 7th CMF IV Hangover Party at Distortion – Live Music Venue. Bands to be announced.

Every year Calgary Metalfest has auctioned off a giant 4’x6’ festival poster signed by the bands to raise money for Make-A-Wish Southern Alberta. This year will be extra special as Reverend Rock (Ross Ingall) of the Metal Nation Radio program Too Metal For Church (Mondays from 10am-2pmand Fridays 12pm-3pm EST) has generously donated a Schecter Twin Tribal Double Neck Guitarfor the auction. The guitar and poster auction will take place before headliners Kobra and the Lotus go on stage at Dickens Pub on June 6th.

The Ship and Anchor Pub is located at 534 17th Ave SW, Vern’s Bar at 622 8th Ave SW, Lord Nelson’s Bar at 1020 8th Ave SW, Dickens Pub at 1000 9th Ave SW, and Distortion at 3828 MacLeod Tr. S, Calgary. All venues 18+. Doors for all shows will be at 8pm. Tickets and passes are available online at http://calgarymetalfest.com and at Dickens Pub, Sloth Records (Calgary), The Soundhouse (Red Deer), and from the Calgary bands.

Floridian death metal masters Deicide will be back on the road again this month, this time as headliners of the “Metal Alliance Tour”! Joining them on the run is Swedish death metal legends Entombed A.D., along with Hate Eternal, Black Crown Initiate, Lorna Shore, and Svart Crown – making this one bill not to miss!

Ddeicide’s Glen Benton (bass/vocals) comments:

It’s with great pleasure to announce our involvement in this year’s Metal Alliance Tour 2015. We look forward to bringing our style of extreme…satanic death metal to all who attend and seeing old friends and making new ones as we travel the highways and byways of this great country of ours…As always we can’t wait to get out there and do what we do best…Crush…HAIL!

Entombed A.D.’s L-G Petrov (vocals) adds:

It’s going to be really good to tour the States again after a long absence overseas– and doing it with The Metal Alliance Tour is a great comeback! We are looking forward to sharing the stage with all the bands on the bill. Expect total headbang!!!

Drew Cook, the talented guitarist for Oakland-based Dimesland and Wild Hunt, has tragically passed away in recent days. Drew Cook is remembered by the Bay Area music scene and thrill-seeking metal explorers worldwide for his unstoppably tight, technical, unique guitar skills, and is cherished by his friends and family as a greatly loving person.

Nolan Cook, the other half of the dual-guitar tandem of Dimesland has issued the following on the loss of his brother, bandmate and best friend, “We are saddened to announce the untimely passing of Oakland musician extraordinaire, Drew Cook, of the bands Dimesland and Wild Hunt. Drew was a special guitarist and a wonderful individual who will be deeply missed by the Bay Area music scene and by the many who were fortunate enough to have collaborated with or otherwise known him. We have lost an incredibly kind, funny, and talented human being.”

The passing of Drew has placed all of his current acts on hiatus until further notice.